No Touch ID on iPad Air, New iPad Mini; Where's the iPad Security?

With tons of your personal information accessible on the cloud, it made sense to secure the iPhone 5s with the TouchID fingerprint scanner. Unfortunately, Apple decided not to include TouchID in the new iPad Air and iPad Mini.

This afternoon, Apple rolled out the latest iterations of its tablet line: the iPad Air and the new iPad mini. Though the new iPads are smaller, lighter, and faster than the previous models, they lack the great new Touch ID fingerprint reader of the iPhone 5s.

Your iPad Is Important
We often make the argument on SecurityWatch that mobile security is just as important, if not moreso, than desktop security. After all, your phone has access to all your contacts, your social media credentials, even your passwords, credit card numbers, and banking information. Your iPad is no different.

One of the signature features of OS X Mavericks, Apple's newest desktop operating system, is cloud synching for your passwords between desktop, iPad, and iPhone. If someone nabbed your iPad, they'd be able to log in to all of your saved sites and use saved credit card numbers.

Including Touch ID on the iPhone made a lot of sense. The default four-digit passcodes are easy to break, and easy to learn just by watching someone use their device. Also, Apple said that a whopping 50 percent of its users didn't even bother with a passcode. Touch ID, which can quickly authenticate you via your fingerprint, was meant to solve those problems.

But the iPad Air and the new iPad mini, which have access to just about everything your iPhone has thanks to iCloud and other services, is stuck with the standard passcode. And, we have to assume, a huge number of users that simply don't bother with security.

What Protects Your iPad
To be fair, Apple already brings a lot of security tools to the table. When I looked at iOS 7, I was pleased to see call, message, and FaceTime blocking baked right into the OS. It also included built-in defense against devices like Mactans, which we saw hijack iPhones at Black Hat via special charging stations. There's even a new tool to deal with advertisers gathering personal information: a special advertising identifier that you can toggle on and off, or reset entirely.

And of course, iPads work with Find My iPhone. This excellent service lets you locate, wipe, lock, message, and play a tone on a lost device. You can access a Web portal to keep tabs on all your devices, or track them from a mobile app—so you can find your iPad with your iPhone. Best of all, a recent update requires you to enter your Apple ID after your device has been wiped. This means that even after you've cleared off all your personal information, your device is still yours and not just open to thieves.

Instead of Touch ID, consider securing your iPad with a complex alphanumeric password. You can access this by opening Settings, tapping General, tapping Passcode Lock, entering your passcode (if you have one), and toggle Simple Passcode off. You can now enter a much longer and more secure passphrase.

The Feature Game
When Apple recapped its hardware releases for the year, it called the iPhone 5s its "forward thinking" device. The implication being that fingerprint technology is futuristic and limited to its high-end flagship device.

Apple has done this before. It didn't roll out GPS until the iPhone 3Gs, and limited Siri to more advanced devices when it debuted. More recently, some iOS 7 features like AirDrop were limited to only the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. With new hardware launching nearly every year, Apple is in the uncomfortable position of having to ration out features by year and by model, in order to provide an array of products and price points.

Touch ID, or its next iteration, is coming to iPad but it's not coming today. Which is a shame, but we probably won't have long to wait. In the meantime, be sure to lock down your iPad just as carefully as you do your iPhone.

Max Eddy is a Software Analyst, taking a critical eye to Android apps and security services. He's also PCMag's foremost authority on weather stations and digital scrapbooking software. When not polishing his tinfoil hat or plumbing the depths of the Dark Web, he can be found working to discern the 100 Best Android Apps.
Prior to PCMag, Max wrote for the International Digital Times, The International Science Times, and The Mary Sue. He has also been known to write for Geek.com. You can follow him on...
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